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You will sound like Shakespeare if you speak the words used in literary Burmese Language.

Avoid Using Literary Form of Burmese Pronouns when Speaking

thin2 - You

a-thin2 - You

thin2 doh1 - You (plural)

a-thin2 doh1 - You (plural)

kja1-note - I

mi1-mi1-doh1 - We

dthin3 - they (derogatory)

e2 - this

dthi2 - this

hto2 - that

la1-goun3 - that; above-mentioned

myi2-thu2 - who

a-beare2 - where

myi2-dthi2 - what

EXCEPTION: At least one politician (former Speaker of the Lower House Thura U Shwe Mann) refers to himself as
mi1-mi1 - I (first person term) in spoken form. Well, politicians can speak what they want. They are exempted.

CLICK TABLE HEADER COLUMNS TO SORT BY ASCENDING OR DESCENDING ORDER IN ENGLISH OR BURMESE.

Lesson 4: Different ways to say You and I — Pronouns in Myanmar Language

Pronouns are called nun2-za3,
where za3 is the soft spoken form of
sa3,
which itself is the abbreviation of a-sa3. What does
a-sa3 mean? It has more than one meaning: division in math, food intake, or substitution.

sa3 in nun2-za3 refers to substitution of
nun2
or the noun. In place of the names of persons, objects, and
places (which are noun), "you", "I", "he", "she", "that", "it", "they", "those", etc., are used.

Pay special attention to different ways to say "you" and "I" in Burmese. Wrong choice of "you" or "I" can be impolite and
offend people, or make you sound silly if you got your gender wrong.

There are many ways to say "you" and "I" in Burmese. THOU SHALT NOT USE literary form of "you", such as
thin2 or a-thin2 in spoken form, unless you are an actor in the dramatic play. This lesson covers all pronouns "you" and "I"
usages you will need in colloquial Burmese.

Burmese Pronouns

There are four classifications of pronouns in Myanmar language.

pote-ga1-la1 nun2-za3
-- personal pronoun is the part of speech that is used in place of a person. It is a coined word of
a-sa3 meaning "in place of" and pote-go2 meaning "a person".
Examples: "I", "You", "He", "She", "It". Attention must be paid to many ways to say "you" and "I" in Burmese.

a-may3 nun2-za3
-- are question words equivalent to
"what", "who", "where" in English. For example, in the Burmese question: "What does she like?", "what" refers to
"the thing that she likes" (noun), and it is considered a question pronoun. By the same logic, "where" in
the question: "Where did he go?" refers to "the place that he went" (noun), and it is a question pronoun.

Note that in the above sentence, "I" is not explicitly stated, but implicitly implied.

First Person Male term: "kja1-nau2"

A male speaker could add "I" (male term) like this:

kja1-nau2thwa3ome3-meare2nau2
-- Please let me be excused now.

kja1-nau2
-- means "I" and is used by male speakers. In upper Myanmar, particularly in Mandalay, this
term is also used by female speakers. But, it appears that this trend is catching on in Yangon. I have encountered some female
speakers who use the term kja1-nau2 in Yangon.

First Person Female term: "kja1-ma1"

A female speaker could add "I" (female term) kja1-ma1
as follow:

kja1-ma1thwa3ome3-meare2nau2

Male term of endearment: "ko2"

A husband or a boyfriend could use the term-of-endearment "I":

ko2thwa3ome3-meare2nau2

Yes, parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say:

thwa3ome3-meare2nau2

till the day after tomorrow!

The use of ko2
is not limited to a soft whisper from a husband to a wife. It can also be used by any male person to any close friend.

Common female self-descriptive word for "I"

It is unusual for a female speaker to use ko2
as a self-descriptive first person pronoun "I". The reason could be that it sounds like the prefix ko2 with different spelling used in front of
the names of the male person.

"The story started on that rainy day when I was enjoying a happy and wet Thingyan Festival filled with pleasing yellow Padauk flowers," she said.
My heart beats faster when I saw those brown eyes and tender loving smile of his. Going home? No. Want to go out together, then? Yeah.
Where to? Just go. That's how I spent the time with him -- so, the lyric goes. This talented young lady's name is Eint Chit | Ain1-Chit. She is
the same girl in "Myanmar's happiest time" video clip in lesson 30 -- only a little younger. All the while, she used the word "KO2" for the
pronoun "I". It's almost as though she is reminiscing the story about herself to herself.

"The story started on that rainy day when I was enjoying a happy and wet Thingyan Festival filled with pleasing yellow Padauk flowers," she said. My heart beats faster when I saw those brown eyes and tender loving smile of his. Going home? No. Want to go out together, then? Yeah. Where to? Just go. That's how I spent the time with him -- so, the lyric goes. This talented young lady's name is Ain1-Chit. She is the same girl in "Myanmar's Happiest Time" clip in lesson 26 -- only a little younger. All the while, she used the word "KO2" for the pronoun "I". It's almost as though she is reminiscing the story about herself to herself. [40 seconds]

means daughter and it is used as a pronoun in place of "I" by a young female to a
person older than her. I don't know if it is a new trend or not. It seems the use of tha1-mi3 is not limited to
teen-agers. Not long ago, I was taken aback to hear a woman in her 30's describing herself as tha1-mi3 to me.
She addressed to me as "Uncle".

Perhaps, it's about time I do something about my graying hair. Maybe, afterwards with my new look,
I can go back to her calling myself

tha3 -- son

before she calls herself

tha1-mi3 :-)

Yes, we do grow older and older as time goes by. I think Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi must now be quite used to
being addressed as a-may2 su1, where

a-may2 -- means mother.

I once witnessed an odd situation between a young man and woman in their early 20's. She addressed to him as

a-ko2 -- elder brother (used as a pronoun)

and he to her as

a-ma1 -- elder sister.

The conversation went on with the repeated use of a-ko2 and a-ma1. I was sitting
next to them trying hard not to laugh out loud.

It is common for a female speaker to use her name in place of "I". For example, a lady named Sun2-Da2 would say:

Sun2-Da2thwa3ome3-meare2nau2

to close friends and elder family members. In fact, either male or female could use his or her name in place of "I"
when speaking to elder members of the family because "I" sounds too cold and impersonal.

Younger people to Older Folks

It's impolite in Myanmar culture to call elders "old man" and "old woman" in the face. But, behind their back, young people might use the terms like
a-pfo3-ji3 (old man)
and a-pfwa3-ji3 (old woman) to not so young people.

It's impolite in Myanmar culture to call elders "old man" and "old woman" in the face. But, behind their back, young Myanmar people might use the terms like a-pfo3-ji3 (old man) and a-pfwa3-ji3 (old woman) to not so young people. [25 seconds]

Girlfriend to boyfriend

Here is something new that I have overheard in the public place. A younger girl described herself as

kha1-lay3

which is the direct English translation of baby to her much older boyfriend. This word also refers to a child. I, therefore, came to the logical conclusion that her boyfriend
must then identify himself as a-ba1 meaning "father" in private to her, but my suspicion could not be independently verified.
It's hard to estimate how widespread is the usage in Myanmar as shown in this clip.

Here is something new that I have overheard in the public place. A younger girl described herself as "kha1-lay3", which is the direct English translation of baby to her much older boyfriend. This word also refers to a child. I, therefore, came to the logical conclusion that her boyfriend must then identify himself as "a-ba1" meaning "father" in private to her, but my suspicion could not be independently verified. It's hard to estimate how widespread is the usage as shown in this clip.
Jenny & William [33 seconds]

It may sound odd, but it is possible for a girl to use "he" in place of "you" when talking to a newly acquainted male.
For example, instead of "What are you doing?" in 2nd person, she might say "What is he doing?" in third person.
Burmese word for "he" is

thu2 -- he (or) she.

The most common terms that she will address to her boyfriend or husband in public will be a-ko2, which means
"big brother", or the word ko2 followed by the name of her boyfriend or husband.
Those two terms are not so special. Anybody, male or female, could address to a male person about the same age with those words in place of "you".

The special usage of "you" to a boyfriend or a husband is the word

moun2.

The closest English translation I can think of is darling or dear, but unlike
"darling" or "dear", the Burmese moun2 is reserved for female to male only.

How would a tough guy call himself?

As people get married for a long time, the term-of-endearment "I" could change with time to become something not so endearing.

kjoatma1litebu3
-- "I am not going with you.", says the wife. (I + not + to go along with + negative ending)

The gender-neutral use of kjoat
as "I" was said to be first popularized by Burmese
leader and politician Dr. Ba Maw ( pronounced Ba1 Mau2 ) during
World War II because he didn't want to use Kja1-nau2
"I" , which in Burmese written words roughly means self-deprecating "loyal slave". In fact, when I was young, I personally knew
two grandsons of Dr. Ba Maw. One of them was the son of Bo Yan Naing, a member of famous
Thirty Comrades with General Aung San as the leader.
It was odd to hear them speak Kjoat to each other, but I didn't know why they used the word at that time.

The word Kja1-nau2 has evolved so much with time that today it has no association
with the meaning "slave", whatsoever. However, when I hear someone says kjoat, it gives me
the impression of someone tough, straight-forward, and a bit unfriendly.

Burmese equivalent of "Mister"

kha1-mya3

also means "you", but used in a business-like environment. Although kha1-mya3 sounds professional,
it's "cold", and never used by family members to address to each other.

kha1-mya3 can be used by both male and female speaker to address to a male person. the plural
form is

kha1-mya3doh1

which is closer in feeling tone to "you people" than "you gentlemen".

Burmese Gentlemen and noble friends

The word

lu2-ji3-min3

refers to a gentleman. You will often hear this "gentleman" message when your cellphone call
cannot be reached.

In public messages, the terms

mate-hsway2 -- friend,
and

mate-hsway2doh1
-- friends are used.

The diplomatic term used to address ambassadors, presidents, and head of states is

a-hsway2-dau2

which is equivalent to Your Excellency.

Why should I trust "you", stranger?

Shin2 is only used by a female speaker to address either male or female
person she is speaking to. It sounds cold and unfriendly, unlike the polite "yes" shin2 of the same sound
and spelling mentioned earlier under different context.

Friendlier and more trustworthy "you"

When you get to know a person better, you call him or her by the title followed by the name of the person. For example,
you say:

" How is it going Ko2Zau2-Wun3 ? " to a person named
Zau2-Wun3.

Ko2 is the title to address a
male of the same age or older.

Moun2 is the title to address a younger male.

U3 is the title to address an elder male.

Mah1 is the title to address a
female who is younger or of the same age.

Dau2 is the title to address an older female.

I consider "you" like a close relative

It is common for Burmese people to use the terms "young brother", "elder brother", "young sister", "elder sister", "big uncle", "big aunt",
"grandpa", "grandma", etc., in place of "you" and "I" to any stranger, especially if you don't know the name of the person.

"What's up, brother?" -- Did I hear an African-American speak?

beare2leare3a-ko2
-- Go where, big brother?

a greeting as you meet someone a bit older than you are. (where + ? + elder brother)

nyi2-lay3..ku2ba2-ome3
-- Could you help me please, young brother?

(younger brother + help + "do as such" suggestion)

Sa3ba2-ome..a-ba1
--
Please won't you have some, grandpa?

(eat + "do as such" suggestion + grandpa)

a-dau2-ji3, da2beare2-loutleare3 --
Big Aunty, how much is this?

(aunt+ big + this + how much + ?)

"You" naive girl

Sometimes an elder person would say

nyi3

a version of "you" to a younger female in a disagreement or in a lecturing tone. In my opinion, it's a bit derogatory and somewhat carries
the meaning: "You naive, ignorant small girl."

I am uncle and you are moun2-yin2

moun2-yin2
is the term spoken by the elder man to the younger man. You can translate
it as "young man" or "lad". This word is not often used. The more common usage today is
tha3
meaning "son" mentioned earlier.

Hey, kid!

The word

cha2-tate

is like calling someone a kid. This word could be used by kids
(sometimes in a bullying tone) to even younger kids. Cha2-tate refers to a boy.

cha2-tate-mah1-lay3

means a girl. If the girl is a little older from the teenage
upwards to the 20's, the word

koun2-mah1-lay3
-- young woman is used.
The male term is

koun-lay3,
meaning young man.

Friend

Younger generation of both sexes use the word "friend" in the conversation, especially to classmates.

tha1-ngeare2-jin3, I wish you well.

What's up "dude"?

Among friends, min3
is used to say "you" in an informal way.

min3-doh1
is a plural for "you" meaning you guys or you people.

Sometimes

nin2

is also used among friends. In Mandarin Chinese, "nin" in Pinyin second tone is
a polite term to say "you". In Burmese it is not polite to say nin2 to
someone older than you are.

nin2-doh1
just like min3-doh1 is an another informal word for "you guys".

min3ba2loatnay2 leare3
-- What are you doing?

(You + what + do + present participle [-ing] + ?)

min3-doh1ba2loatnay2 ja1 leare3
-- What are you guys doing?

(you guys + what + do + present participle [-ing] + plural + ?)

Note the use of ja1 for plural of people. Please review lesson 2 for the
use of ja1.

nga2

is an informal word used among friends to say "I". It is rude to
saynga2to strangers or to elders.

nga2-doh1
means we.

You may be wondering how to pronounce nga2. "nga2" sounds just like saying "ng" part at the end of
the word "sing" with the back of the tongue raised, momentarily touched the upper back part of the mouth and released.
The tongue should be further back compared to saying "ga2".